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The rain had fallen through out the night, drumming on the roof of Angela's house on the outskirt of Nsukka. She barely noticed it was raining, her heart was heavier than the rain outside.
The day before that day, she had done the most hardest thing a mother could do. She had given out her six months son for adoption. Live hadn't been fair to her and she couldn't keep up with taking care of her infant.
It wasn't because she didn't love her child, she believed that giving him out will definitely make his future great especially when it's a wealthy family. Since her husband died of motor accident life hasn't been easy with her. She Lost her teaching job because the school proprietor doesn't want a nursing mother as a teacher in his school, as he believed it would be a lot of distraction to her. Her savings? That's where she's been feeding from and this time around, nothing is left of her.
Her only option was to give out the baby to a wealthy couple who had not given birth for years now. When the adoption processes were done and the couple drove away with the little chidindu, Angela stood in the rain until the car disappeared.
That night she cried her eyes out until she dozed off. The next morning she woke up in silence , walked around the room, the baby cradle beside her bed was gone. She blinked severally hoping it was a dream. Her heart raced, she hurried to the family photograph, her hands started shaking . The photograph showed only she and her late husband, the baby she was carrying in her arms was gone .
"No" she whispered with tears in her eyes. She grabbed her phone and dialed her sister's number .
"I need to see chidindu," she said through tears.
"You don't have a child now," her sister replied .
"You don't have any chidindu again Angela" she said again.
There was a long silence, her stomach dropped. She ran to the hospital were she had given birth, the nurse searched for her records " I'm sorry ma, there's no record of you having a baby" the nurse said.
The church had no record of his dedication. No trace of chidindu anymore. By the evening Angela began to question herself , has grief driven away her sanity? As she swept the room that day, she found a blue baby socks under the table, her heart raised again, inside that socks was folded a piece of paper, which was written "Find the woman who remembers the lullaby" .
The message became her only hope.
The next day, she traveled to the village to ask an elderly woman if she remembered an old lullaby her mother used to sing.
She also asked few other women, some laughed, while some just pitied her as they shook their head.
Then one afternoon, as she was walking along the road, she saw a blind woman sitting beneath an orange tree. Without saying a word, she began with the first few lines of the lullaby, then the woman completed the song.
She was close to tears " you remember him?" She whispered .
"I remember every child that the world has forgotten " the old woman said.
She also told her that in most families, fate offers desperate parents a cruel bargain. "A child could be spared from lifetime of suffering and in return the world forget that such child ever existed, everyone forgot, except for the parents whose love was strong enough to let go, remember real love cannot be erased " she added.
She then reached out to her bag, brought out a small bell and said,
"When your son grows into a man he is meant to become , if love still remembers the paths between you too, this bell will ring "
Angela was relieved, at least she has hope now.
After few years, she regained herself back , went back to the classroom and started living her life again. She didn't remarry, and every morning while going to school, she would make sure she put the bell inside her bag.
People thought maybe it was an old keepsake and she didn't bother to even explain.
Twenty and few years later, a young doctor arrived at her school with a volunteer medical team. He was kind, patient and gentle, especially with frightened children.
As he passed through Angela's desk.. the bell rang.
Just once, he stopped, looked around the classroom confused.
Then almost without thinking, he started humming a lullaby .
The same lullaby Angela had sung to her son on countless sleepless nights.
She froze.
"So strange" the young doctor said with a smile. "I have known that song all my life but I don't even know who taught me".
Angela could no longer hold her tears. She smiled through them.
"You've always known"she whispered.
The doctor did not understand why the sight of the woman before him filled him with overwhelming sense of peace.
He simply smiled back.
Some morning don't bring an ending, it brings a miracle.
